Hard to be a God Preview

[GameBanshee News]

British site AceGamez has previewed Akella and Burut's upcoming RPG, Hard to be a God, and seem very impressed.

Good RPGs are hard to find and good RPGs with a solid, engrossing storyline are even harder to find. Oftentimes the promises made by such games to provide many hours of entertainment and a 'deep, absorbing narrative' fall along the wayside, leaving so many empty husks of potential. So it was with some cynicism that I approached Hard to be a God, a game that, on the surface, appears to be like any one of the hundreds of RPGs available at the moment. But, like the adage says, you should never judge a book by its cover, or a game, for that matter; pretty quickly I realised that Hard to be a God had much more in store than most of its ilk.
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However, despite these engaging side quests it's the main storyline that truly excels. After graduation I was sent off to Arkanar, a distant city, to assassinate a couple of fellows who had done something they shouldn't have done. Along the way I was set upon by Monks believing they should purify the land, had to break out of prison and ended a rivalry between two nasty sorts just so I could get the city gates open. Oh, and I also had some rather enlightening conversations with myself. This is how much of the plot is filtered through: from time-to-time I was transported 'somewhere' and told snippets of events obviously far larger than anything happening in Coronation Street this week. Hints of a new messiah, betrayal in the monarchy, some trouble with the timelines and some other pretty dark stuff all presented themselves and every time I was confronted with my alter ego, a new twist on the plot set me thinking about my own motives for fulfilling this mission. Just what was going on and why was I here?

Tantalising morsels of plot fell onto the plate of understanding, only to be snatched away by the hungry dog of deceit however - and boy does that dog have an appetite! New twists and turns in the labyrinthine narrative were replaced by half-truths and rumour as quickly as I had tracked down their origins. By the time I had finished only half of my original quest line I had acquired a journal literally bursting at the bindings with allegations, secret meetings and clandestine plans. Not that it ever became confusing or obscure; I could still follow what was going on easily - and that's no mean feat, incorporating the type of deep, absorbing narrative usually found in best-selling novels, without completely baffling the player. I kept on going just to try and find out what was actually going on and it is a rare game indeed that draws attention from its plot alone, especially when that game is billed as a hack 'n' slash. Hard to be a God offers inspired intrigue of the highest calibre.

Spotted on RPGWatch.

[DesR85]

Interestingly, by equipping the thieves' armour I had liberated from the corpses, I assumed the identity of a thief, allowing me to travel back to the outpost unhindered by the numerous ruffians littering the highways. Collecting the numerous different armour types allows you to assume a multitude of different guises, blending into the roles of Imperial Guardsman, Bandit, Don and Monarchy in a way that would impress even the recently famous Altair.

I don't see how this idea is unique when the Hitman series allows you to do this too (could be other games as well, though I'm not too sure). And even in a disguise, you can't simply walk too close to an enemy or they will get suspicious and will eventually see through your disguise. In this game, nobody gives a hoot and ignores you most of the time (even when you loot their chests, they don't care).

I did give the demo a try a few weeks ago. I didn't find the narrative that good at all. Feels rather bland if you ask me. As for combat, it is slightly clunky, but not as bad as the Gothic series. However, the horse combat, I find troublesome as you have to keep running around in circles just to deal with a bunch of enemies. The graphics are decent, yes, but the frame rates are all over the place. One moment, it's smooth, and the next, it isn't.